Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
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579. To ask the Minister for Health if he will provide an update on when a new national sexual health strategy will be published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [56596/22]

Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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The National Sexual Health Strategy, 2015-2020, (NSHS) was launched in October 2015. It takes a life course approach, acknowledging the importance of developing a healthy attitude to sexuality in young people and of building on that foundation for positive sexual health and wellbeing into adulthood and older age. The Strategy has been extended to the end of 2022, in order to account for the various impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on previous timelines.

Current priority deliverables under the Strategy are HIV prevention, including the continued expansion of a Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) programme, which commenced in late 2019, and the HIV Fast Track Cities programme, involving Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway. Other key areas of work include expanding access to contraception, free of charge; expanding sexually transmitted infection (STI) services, progressing a population survey on sexual health and improving sexual health education, training and resources, including in schools, higher and further education.

A review of the Strategy commenced in 2021, having been postponed as a result of the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Focus group meetings were held with key stakeholders, including clinical and public health staff, the HSE Sexual Health and Crisis Pregnancy Programme (SHCPP) team, those working in STI clinics, the education sector, the Department of Health and Women’s Health Taskforce, the research and academic sector and organisations representing the LGBTI+ community.

The detailed feedback from these meetings has been collated and will inform the future direction of the next iteration of the Strategy. An external review of the Strategy is currently being completed and will be published on the Healthy Ireland website, by the end of January 2023.

The findings from this review will inform future policy direction and the Women's Health Taskforce will continue to provide input on matters relevant to women's health as the new policy is drafted and implemented. The recommendations of the Review will be taken into account during this process. It is intended to publish the new Strategy in Q4 2023.